The Torture of Twilight
by Bookaholic711
Summary: When Rose's friends find out her secret, she is left with a choice. Admit it to the person who matters most in a painful way, or suffer eternal torture by reading Twilight. Oneshot.


****Disclaimer: All characters and locations belong to J.K. Rowling. Quotes belong to Stephanie Meyer. No copyright infringement is intended in the posting of this story.****

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_I'd never given much thought to how I would die - though I'd had reason enough in the last few months - but even if I had, I would not have imagined…_

I quickly slammed the book shut. "I cannot do this."

My cousin Roxanne and our best friend Amity looked up from their game of Exploding Snap. Roxy rolled her eyes.

"You're such a drama queen, Rose."

"I am not," I huffed indignantly. "This is probably considered torture in some countries."

Roxy rolled her eyes at me again and they went back to their game.

Most people don't have to put up with crap like this in their dormitories. Most people hang out with their friends and talk about their crushes and do their homework together.

But me… I was being tortured severely. I was dreaming of Chinese water torture at this point. Going insane had to be preferable to this.

I sighed and settled down farther into my bed. The gold and red covers rose up around me until if I squinted I couldn't see Roxy and Amity anymore.

The book lying in front of my eyes didn't look all that offending. It had a black sleeve with a description on the back and a simple front cover. White hands reached out to clasp a juicy red apple. The word "Twilight" was written in a fairly non-descript font. The hardback was well worn, as if it had been read and loved for many years.

How can something that looks so innocent hold so much pain in its pages?

"Rose, you can stare at that book all day and you still won't have accomplished the chicken."

I looked over at my cousin. The way her long brown hair shaped her face in the dim light, with a slight glow around her head, made her look like an angel. I scoffed.

"This isn't a joke. I physically cannot do this."

Amity grinned, showing off her perfect teeth. Would it kill these two not to be gorgeous for ten seconds? "You can always do the dare."

I sat up straight, bracing my weight on my hands. "Absolutely _not_."

Those cretins giggled at me. "Then get reading."

If I didn't have horribly vengeful friends, then I wouldn't have been in the situation in the first place. However, the moment I spilled a tiny little secret in a game of truth or dare, the game had changed to just "dare" and my life had ended.

I had two choices: read Twilight, or kiss Scorpius Malfoy.

Okay, okay, so the dare really wasn't all that bad. Scorpius was a nice guy, even if he was supposed to be my mortal enemy. He was Al's friend, pretty much everyone liked him, and he was one hell of a Quidditch player. In fact, kissing him really wouldn't be too horrible.

If, you know, I didn't happen to fancy the pants off of him.

I could practically hear my father shouting a hundred miles away. _"Disgrace to your family, marrying a pureblood! MALFOY. He's a MALFOY, Rosie! You can't do this to me!"_

It wasn't like I was madly in love with him or anything. Just a little crush, like a normal teenage girl. And, foolishly believe I was normal, I told my friends in a game.

I didn't give them details. They were not informed of his crisp grey eyes, or his striking white-blond hair. My friends didn't need to know about the time he spent three hours letting Olivia Brown cry on his shoulder because her boyfriend dumped her in Hogsmede. Roxy would only laugh in face if I told her about the time Scorpius and I ran into each other in the kitchens in the middle of the night and just sat there joking and laughing, getting to know each other. They definitely didn't need to know that I sat strategically in each class so that I could inconspicuously glance at him at periodic intervals.

Unfortunately, my friends did know enough to torture me. And hence the current situation: Twilight (eternal pain) or kissing him (eternal humiliation).

I was truly trying. But something about the book just disgusted me. I knew my mother hated it. She said that it was poorly written and had the most tactless and one-dimensional representation of love she'd ever seen. And she had been married to my dad for nearly twenty years.

But Twilight was one of the most loved novels in Hogwarts. The world at large had worshiped it for nearly ten years, pissing off quite a number of people. There were spoofs and parodies all of the muggle Internet. But there were movies and fans and screaming girls as well.

So maybe, just to make up my own decision, I had to read it.

Sealing myself, I picked up the book again.

_I'd never given much thought to how I would die - though I'd had reason enough in the last few months - but even if I had, I would not have imagined it like this… surely it was good way to die, in the place of someone else, someone I loved._

One paragraph down, two million to go. There had to be some better way to do this. I thought about what I'd just read.

I'd never given much thought about how I would die either, though I'd certainly never had the reason to do so. But my parents had as children. They'd been constantly in the danger. Despite that, I'm almost certain they never thought about how they would die. They were too busy living. So I guess that makes sense.

It seems extremely doubtful that anyone would actually die in the way they imagined they would. That would just be far too big of a coincidence. So that could be dismissed.

"Surely it was a good way to die, in the place of someone else, someone I loved." Is there a good way to die? There must have been a better solution. Dying in the place of someone you loved could be noble, like Uncle Harry going into the forest to face He Who Must Not Be Named, but only if there was no other solution. Given the fact that I was holding a romance novel in my hands, I was willing to bet there was a better way out.

In short, I was looking at one giant, depressing, untrue cliché.

What a fab start.

"I'm going to go read in the Common Room," I said. "If I have to suffer through this then the entire House has to put up with my ranting."

They didn't even look up. Pricks.

I felt the heat of the fire the moment I stepped outside our dormitory, and I slowly descended the steps until I was standing in front of it. Taking a moment to look around, I noticed the source of my torture sitting at a table with Al, his sharp features hidden by his large Chaser's hands. Al had a hand on his arm, the other in his own hair, mussing it like generations of Potters before him.

The fire leapt up in the hearth, and I settled myself in a large armchair right in front of it. Curling up like a cat, I reopened the book. The first thing that caught my eye was that horrible first sentence. Such a cliché, I thought to myself. I glanced at it again, and realized that it probably classified as a run-on as well.

This was going to be painful.

I dove head first into the book.

Readers read fast. That sentence may sound awkward, but it's true. Those who read the most read the fastest. Like my mother, I read a lot. As a result of that, I read very fast.

I was at least fifty pages in when I felt a hand brush my shoulder. A shiver went down my spine, giving me an idea of who was standing behind me. Sure enough, I look up out of Twilight and into a pair of pristine grey eyes. Below them, a certain mouth was grinning down at me.

Cue melting.

Of course, I had a bit more dignity than that. I didn't _actually_ melt. That would have been horribly embarrassing. What a stupid expression.

"What are you reading, bookworm?" he asked jokingly.

I shook my head. "It's called Slow and Painful Death."

"That doesn't sound like a fun read."

I laughed a little. "It certainly isn't."

He swept around the couch, sitting down next to me, looking straight at me.

"So why read it?"

My joking attitude disappeared right away. I mumbled something.

"Sorry, what was that?"

I looked down. "I said it's better than the alternative."

To my surprise, he grinned. "And what was the alternative?"

Crap.

"Nothing," I said far too quickly.

"Uh huh. Spill, Rosie."

_Rosie?_ Oh dear, that couldn't be good for my mental health.

"It's something…"

Scorpius laughed. "Really? I never would have guessed!" Sarcasm dripped from his voice.

I muttered something that may or may not have sounded suspiciously like, "Shut up, Mr. Hilarious."

"Come on, Rose. Tell me or I'll go tell Al that you're reading Twilight."

What? When had he noticed that? But of course, as we'd been talking, I had turned the book over so my leg was holding the page, leaving the title right into front of his eyes.

"I am _not…_" I spewed, before I realized that I actually was. "I was dared!"

"Oh? By whom?"

"Roxy and Amity of course."

He laughed. "Those horrible girls. Why didn't you just take the chicken?"

Did he have to know all the rules of truth or dare? I mean, I'd played with Al before, but he wasn't supposed to teach _Scorpius_.

I took a moment of silence to examine the fact that there was exactly two centimeters of space in between my leg and his. His legs looked particularly nice in his grey jeans. I could just imagine what it would feel like to put my hand on his leg and…

He-hem. Moving on from that thought.

He was looking at me expectantly, and I remembered that he had asked me a question.

"This is the chicken. The dare was… undoable."

"Undoable, eh? Worse than reading Twilight?"

I grimaced. Worse than reading Twilight? Absolutely positive not. Far more impossible than reading Twilight? Infinitely so.

"Not really. Just less… attainable."

I met his eyes for the first time in the conversation and noticed that they were still slightly red. Recalling that he had been upset before, I saw a novel opportunity to change the subject.

"Hey, are you alright? I saw you early with Al."

He looked quickly away. "Just upset about something that, well, to use your words, isn't very attainable."

That sparked my interest. "What?"

He mumbled something incoherent. I just watched him, waiting for an answer.

"It's more some_one_ than some_thing_."

Bugger. Crap crap crap. He fancied someone. And he clearly wanted to tell me, or he would have made something up. By the transitive property of life, there was only one conclusion: Scorpius Malfoy fancied a girl in Hogwarts who was most distinctly not me.

"Oh?" I asked, trying to hide my internal turmoil.

"Yeah. And Al, well, he won't leave it alone. He tries to comfort me, but he think this girl fancies me too."

"But you don't think she does?"

He was blushing, I couldn't help but notice it. That just meant that he liked her more. I watched my dating future swivel around the drain.

"I don't know. But I don't really want to risk it."

The water was rushing around in circles.

"Why don't you tell me? Girls always know who other girls like." I grinned hopefully. _Swish swish swish._

"That would kind of defeat the purpose of keeping it a secret."

I glared at him indignantly. "You think I would tell people?"

The guttural sound came as the drain tried to suck up the water. In a couple seconds it would rush down into the abyss.

He smiled. "Of course you wouldn't. But I would."

That was so _cryptic_. The first droplet of water dripped over the lip.

"What do you mean?" I tried to catch his eye, but he wouldn't look at me. The water tipped into a waterfall, slowly going over the edge.

It all happened in a moment. Suddenly, his head swiveled around to look at me, and there was something in his eyes. He said one simple word, "This."

God, it's so cliché I almost don't want to admit it. It's like the type of thing that would happen in Twilight. But it happened to me.

Then he kissed me.

Hah, suckers. On the check. Sheesh.

I was the one to reach out and kiss him on the lips. It was amazing. It wasn't one of those kisses that people take ages to describe, the ones that feels almost pornographic. The kiss lasted all of two seconds. I didn't even get my hands up to his hair before I started freaking out.

Remember all of that water that was going down my metaphorical drain? It just all came up and whapped me right in the face.

I threw myself off of the couch, nearly tripping over my tangled limbs, leaving Twilight lying on the floor. Running hard, I got halfway up the steps to my dormitory. Then I realized what I'd done. I turned around to look at him; he was watching me. Setting aside the feeling that I was drowning, I smiled at him. He smiled right back, one of the happiest looks I'd ever seen on his face.

I probably should have gone down and talked to him. We should have figured out if we wanted to go out and when our first date was going to be. We should have talked it out and made sure this was right.

But all of that could happen later.

Instead, I turn on my heel and marched straight up to my dormitory. After my rather loud entrance, Roxy and Amity looked up at me.

"Well," I stated proudly, "I guess I don't have to read Twilight now."

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_AN: Hey there everyone! Hope you enjoyed this little oneshot. A couple of things before we go..._

_1) This oneshot does not stand alone! It's one of almost 50 updates that will be happening today! This particular oneshot is a part of **Project PULL**, a writing challenge started by yours truly. **Anyone can join!** The details and a full list of participants are on my profile. So challenge yourself! Write more, write better, just write! Join Project PULL. _

_2) Thank you to **xXIceShadowXx** for the prompt of this oneshot. (In case you didn't get it, she gave me the prompt of Twilight, and I wrote a oneshot surrounding it.) She's mega awesome and a PULL participant with amazing ideas. Go check her out!_

_3) Just like everyone else, I love reviews. However, I do not love reviews that look like this: "HEY THIS IS AMAZING WRITE MORE" First of all, there's no punctuation, but also it's a complete waste of a review. Tell me what you liked and didn't like about the piece. Tell me that you want me to die in a hole. I don't care what you say, I just want to KNOW. So do it! Leave a good review. Tell me what you think. Flames are more than accepted and CC makes my life. _

_Hope you enjoyed it!  
-Bookaholics711 _


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